Monday, April 30, 2012

Morning and happy Monday! Did y’all have a great weekend? I certainly did and I’m ready to tackle this new week.

Last Monday I started to share some of my favorite My Style pins from Pinterest with you. I have a few more for you today that I hope give you a smile to start your week.See that last picture? Yes, the beach one! I plan on doing a lot of that this summer :-) Bring on the books, sunscreen, lemonade, waves, and sunshine! Doesn’t that sound amazing?! I’m ready! Are you starting to plan fun activities for the summer?

Friday, April 27, 2012

The day after I defended, Phil took me to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center. I remember the date exactly (April 7th) because everything still revolves around April 6th in my brain. Hopefully this will change soon :-) Phil took me to the Arboretum because I had missed spending time with my camera. The Nature Center seemed like a perfect place for Mr Nikon and me to get reacquainted.

My favorite subjects to photograph:

If you’ve never been to the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, I definitely recommend it. There are tons of beautiful trails and events for kids. Plus it’s free! Can’t beat that, right? We, and be we I mean Phil, me, the pups, and Mr Nikon, had a lot of fun and will probably be visiting again soon. Happy Friday and have a wonderful weekend friends!

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Warning: Please forgive me now, because I’m about to clobber you with puppy pictures; I just can’t help myself. I was emptying my camera & realized that y’all were in serious need of a photo dump. So here is an update on my sweet little boy (Yes, I’m aware that I speak of him as if he were my child; don’t hate).

In case you’re new around these parts of blogland, Phil and I got Rooney in January. He was rescued from a horrid situation, and was 4 pounds (Check out his story more here). We LOVE being his puppy-parents. I wanted to update you on how the little guy is doing these days.

Rooney is very mild tempered; he just goes with the flow and is always happy. He would rather snuggle than play. Tomlin loves to snuggle when she is sleepy, but Rooney has it on his agenda all day long, everyday.

He is growing very quickly. When we first brought Rooney home we had a hard time getting him to maintain his weight (since he was abused & VERY ill). As soon as we got the little guy healthy (many thanks to the weekly trips to the vet for about 2 months) he is now a whopping 30 lbs! In just 3 months he gained 26lbs!!! Tomlin is one year old and 36lbs. Rooney is only 5 months old and almost has her beat. I have a feeling he is going to be a pretty big dog.

By the time Rooney was 3 months old he was already house broken and responding to commands; he was a very fast learner. I like to think that Tomlin was a good leader for him :-)

Tomlin and Rooney are the best of buds; they do everything together! We all 4 go the park several times a week and all they want to do is play with each other and most people ask us if they are siblings. We just love how well they get a long.

Ok it’s photo time :-) This was Rooney on one of the first few days he was home (4lbs)

Those eyes…..get me every time!

Love :-)

This is a very typical scene in our house: me and the pups passed out on the couch.

This picture was taken a couple weeks ago at the Houston Arboretum. Rooney is the one on the left (with the bow tie collar). Look at his size compared to Tomlin!!!

Here is our 5 month old Mr Rooney. I’m head over heels for this sweet boy :-)

HA! That update was a lot longer than I had anticipated lol Sorry about that, but thanks for indulging me in a little puppy progress report :-) Hope you have a great Wednesday friends!

Monday, April 23, 2012

Morning Friends! I know I’m not the only person to be struck by the Pinterest bug. I can’t even complain; it’s my favorite illness :-) I just love searching through pinterest for DIY ideas and recipes. Check out my boards here.

One of my boards I have entitled My Style. This board is just a collection of images that reminds me of me :-) Pinned here, I have images of everything from funny sayings, fashion, and landscapes, to cute little puppies. There is no real order to this pin board, just things that make me smile. Take a little peer into My Style.

Lately, as funny or weird as it may sound, I have found a lot of encouragement and inspiration from Pinterest. To be completely honest, this is probably the last thing I expected to come from pinterest. Anyways, I wanted to share some of my favorite inspirational pins that I hope bring a smile to your face and help motivate you to tackle this new week.That T-rex makes me laugh every time! If you have not checked out Pinterest (and you MUST) let me know and I’d be delighted to send you an invitation. If you want to check out more images like these, I promise you’ll find a ton here. No go forth and Pin!

Friday, April 20, 2012

Morning LWTH friends! Have you had a good week? My week was great, but I’m still really looking forward to the weekend with my hubby. We have don’t have any plans and I’m so looking forward to the nothingness :-)

In March I posted my first real vlog (see here). You all gave me great responses! Since then, I have received many requests for another vlog. I’m happy to oblige.
Last time I addressed my “accent”, but for the next topic I want to answer YOUR questions! YAY! So what things have you wondered about me and the Mr? What have I never addressed here on this blog that you’re dying to know? It can be a silly, fun, or serious question and I will do my best to answer! So comment below or email me your questions!
I can’t wait to see what y’all come up with!!!
Happy weekend!

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

First of all, I want to thank all my guest posters from the past couple months. Not only did I have so much fun reading your posts, but I know that my other readers did as well. I’m so grateful for your help while I was MIA and finishing up my degree.

Secondly, I want to thank all our LWTH readers for being such wonderful followers. Thank you for your patience while I have been away, and for your kind thoughts and prayers. It was a challenging couple of months to say the least, but it was SO much better with your words of encouragement. Further I would also like to thank you for being so loving to the guest posters by leaving fun comments and visiting their blogs.

In case you missed any of the wonderfulposts, here is your chance to catch up. I highly recommend a visit to these links!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Morning and happy Monday! Don’t you just love a fresh clean slate to start the week? Ahhh so refreshing! This past weekend Phil and I were back at home on the east coast for his brother’s wedding. It was on the beach and gorgeous; I can’t wait to share the pictures with you.

I’m such a sap and I love weddings; they always get me thinking. Does that happen to you too? Anyways, I adore Phil and something that I have loved to do since we got married (almost 5 years ago!) is to pray for Phil. I schedule time in my morning every day to spend quality time with the Lord praying for Phil. I pray about everything from helping him to have energy during the day, to being a Godly example of what a husband should be at work. I have done this since we got married and it truly is my favorite part of the day.

I also keep a prayer journal for Phil. I write my prayers down for him to see and know that he is being prayed for on daily basis. For me, this has been an awesome way to capture moments and feelings during our marriage, and for him it is book of comfort to know that his wife schedules special time to pray just for him and focus on serving him.

Stormie Omartian has written some amazing books, two of which are my favorites: The Power of a Praying Wife and The Power of a Praying Husband. Each book is packed with topics and “power tools” (scriptural references) for ways in which you can pray for your spouse and how it can transform your marriage. I read both several summers ago (see the review here). I know that I’m only supposed to read the wife one, but if my husband was going to be reading the other one, I wanted to know what he was going to be reading about. Anyways, both books are amazing. One of my favorite aspects about these books is that they are not sequential, meaning that each chapter is a different topic (e.g. finances, career, fatherhood) and you can skip around to the topics that you feel in need of most. Neat, right? You’ve got to check these out when you get a chance:

So how can you pray for your husband? Oh let me count the ways. If this is new to you, don’t worry; you will catch on quickly. I found this list and thought it was a great way to get you started.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Yay! It’s Friday! What better way to start the weekend than a fabulous post from H2O Threadworks?!?!? Heather is a fabulous mommy and crafter. Heather and I went to college together and were actually RA’s together. Ha! I wont reveal our age, but that does seem like forever ago! Recently Heather started her own business selling gorgeous handmade hats. You’ve got to check them out here at her blog: H2O Threadworks.

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Wow! It is so awesome to be writing this for you! When Mrs. H first asked for guest bloggers as she completes her PhD in “ridiculous level of intelligence,” I humbly offered my fledgling blogging skills to her. Darby’s blog has long been a source of inspiration to me, and as I began my own business just a few months ago, I referred to her experience for information and encouragement. So mad sweet props to Darby!

It has taken me days to get this post written. Not just because I wanted to wow you with my wit, intelligence, and craftiness, but because in between sentences I have to stop to dance with a three year-old in the kitchen, locate an 11 month-old who thinks he should run when he is only learning to walk and manages to get stuck in various inconvenient places, fix dinner for a full-time working and part-time schooling husband, and grab an occasional shower. Then there are my other loves, my hats. I crochet hats. I can do blankets and booties (kind of), flowers, clips, headbands, dish cloths…I have even crocheted a crown, but my favorites are the hats, especially tiny ones.

There is something empowering about watching yarn turn into something precious.

Whenever I can find a few minutes, my hands are chomping at the bit to get to my H hook and yarn. There are few tasks my hands complete quicker than working up a hat, but some other things that run a close second would have to include: pulling out the credit card, tickling my son, holding the spoon that has fresh butter cream icing on it, pushing my daughter on the swing, and clasping my husband’s hand in prayer.

It is amazing how easily and efficiently my hands complete those enjoyable tasks. When I get going, I can almost feel my hands take over and work without my brain telling them what comes next. For the crafters, bakers, painters and artists in general, I am sure you know the feeling.

But my hands don't work without my brain. Now I'm no Biology major, but I am pretty sure I learned in elementary school that your limbs move because your brain signals them to. But what signals the brain to tell the hands?

Call me silly, but I'd like to think something in my heart triggers the process. My hands crochet because I love it. I find joy, satisfaction, connection to something lost when I work. I reach out to my children because my heart tells me to comfort them. I seek out the tasks that need me and my hands, which explains why for the past three days, the same mess of dishes has been sitting on the counter. The clean pile of laundry sits on the nursery floor where I put it who knows how many days ago. My hands aren't rushing to grab the pen to write the check that pays the credit card bill the way they whipped out the card for the initial purchases. No, my heart isn't quite as willing to tackle those things, which means my hands aren't doing their work.

Yes, this is my real kitchen. It really isn't that bad, I just don't WANT to do them!

In the book of Proverbs, chapter 31 verse 13 states: "She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." I find this verse encouraging when the not-so-fun work is calling my name. Instead of leaving the dirty kitchen waiting for me, if I seek it out and conquer it with a more positive mindset, it gets clean much quicker. My spending habit will only change if my feelings toward the "gotta have it" mentality change first. My hands can't change and get busy if I'm not. They may do the work, but it is me who has to tell them. After all, my hands are just an extension of my heart, and when the heart is willing, so are they.

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How inspiring?!?!?! Heather is fabulously witty and charming! Thank you so much for visiting today Heather! Stop by Heather’s blog and check out some of her hats! They’re adorable! And don’t forget to leave her a comment that you stopped by :-)